low-income

Are megatropolises creating a geographical boundary of inequality? In case you haven’t heard enough griping about California’s over-priced real estate market recently, here is a little more fuel for the fire. As cities become more popular and affluent, particularly with the attraction of high-paying jobs, the divide between the upper class and the middle and lower classes becomes more apparent and geographically based. Cities are becoming high-income districts unto themselves, with the poor and less affluent moving into the suburbs or as far as affordable transport permits. As the price of living in America’s most expensive urban areas...Read more

Rural Studio students have been perfecting a series of radically affordable, well-designed 550-square-foot houses for nearly a decade. How do you design a comfortable home that someone living below the poverty line can afford? Rural Studio has spent decades pondering this problem and testing prototypes. In January, the team finished their first pilot project in the real world, building two one-bedroom houses, with materials that cost just $14,000 each. Sam “Sambo” Mockbee founded Rural Studio in 1993, centered around “social justice architecture.” Initially, architecture students would use reclaimed wood and other materials to design houses for low-income residents...Read more